


Recovery

by OwlWolf22091



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ao3 deleted all my tags, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Healing, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, Injury Recovery, My First AO3 Post, Oblivious Zuko (Avatar), Pre-Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Recovery, Sorry Not Sorry, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27326518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OwlWolf22091/pseuds/OwlWolf22091
Summary: Zuko wakes up after being shot at by Azula, and he finds a waterbender. ONESHOT THAT WILL BE EXPANDED INTO A FIC ASAP
Relationships: Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	Recovery

**Author's Note:**

  * For [notalert](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=notalert).



> tw: mentioned blood and death
> 
> okay so i wrote this super quickly, it's super short and I can't even say I really tried because I didn't. It was impulsive.

_**tw: mentions of death and blood. enjoy this small zutara fic!** _

* * *

ZUKO KNEW A LOT OF THINGS. He knew how to feed turtle ducks ; he knew how to make dragon's fire ; he knew how to earn someone's forgiveness ; and the list went on.

He also knew how to die. He hadn't planned to ; after all, once you're dead, you don't usually come back. And of course, Zuko had to be an exception to that rule. It wasn't unpleasant, really, more like realising that you forgot the meeting an hour ago, or that you didn't remember the name of an important noble, or something like that. Not altogether unsurprising, but it definitely could have been better.

At least he hadn't died a stupid death. He had made plenty of bad decisions in his life so far, and while this one was arguably the worst, it was also the one he was the most sure of. Not in a thousand years would he regret it. So he didn't.

If it wasn't a serious death, it wasn't a painless one, either. Definitely not. Being struck by lightning was very unpleasant. And it hurt a lot. In a lot of places.

Which was why, a few days after dying, he woke up because his ribs ached, and blinked in surprise. He was bleeding out, a lot, and he blinked again when he saw the bandages slowly staining red. Before he even had time to register what had happened - wasn't he supposed to be dead? - his mind went on autopilot and called out.

"Hello? Anybody? I think my wound reopened," Zuko said before he could stop himself. As soon as he spoke, he heard someone shout in the hall.

"The Fire Lord's awake!"

Wait, what?

Zuko took a second to process this information. He had just been called the Fire Lord. At least, he thought it was him. It could have been someone else. Though it would make sense, seeing as he was the Fire Prince.

Right?

He couldn't be the Fire Lord yet, could he? Last he remembered, he was on the ground reaching out to Katara. Because Azula had shot him with lightning. Oh. So that was the pain. It made much more sense now. He assumed that the wa- Katara had defeated his sister. He'd have to congratulate her later. Or right now, actually. She was running into the room.

"Finally! You have no idea how worried I was! You could have died! You..." She rambled on, fussing and squashing him in a bone-crushing hug. Literally. He winced and tried to sit up. "... Katara, I can't breathe."

"Oh I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have done that, you should have warned me..." His friend tutted as she tucked him in under the covers. She paused for a moment, looking up at him.

"That was really stupid of you, you know."

He let out a snort. "Wow, I hadn't noticed."

With an affronted look on her face, she responded, "Well, sorry for expressing concerns about your health, mister Fire Lord. I'll refrain in the future."

"No! No, that wasn't what I meant! I was just agreeing with you..." Zuko mumbled, shaking his head frantically - and giving himself a headache in the process.

"Well, I've got business to take care of now. I'll be off, don't you worry about me, I'm fine, and your council wants you to meet with them. They'll let you out of bed any day now," she quipped as she left the room. "Have a nice nap!"

Zuko could only stare after her.


End file.
